Posts Tagged ‘vladimir kramnik’

The 2012 Istanbul Chess Olympiad is about to begin. However, here’s a game from the last round of the previous Chess Olympiad held in Khanty-Mansiysk in 2010. Vladimir Kramnik beat Alexei Shirov of Spain in his trademark style. That, most felt, was taking Russia well on their way to the gold. Then, disaster struck. Peter Svidler lost to Ivan Lopez Salgado. Ukraine and Israel drew their match so Ukraine picked up the gold, while Israel got the silver. Here is the Kramnik-Shirov chess game that almost got the gold for Russia in 2010. Playing a move Kramnik had not used before (except in blitz) – 6.Qb3 – Kramnik even gave up the Bishop pair in the Semi-Slav game. So much for theory! Check out this classical chess game with our special Chess King applet that works beautifully on absolutely any tablet or smartphone on the planet.

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Chess folklore has it that Russian Grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik’s understanding of the King’s Indian even shook up none other than the legendary Garry Kasparov. No one dares play it against him. Here is one of the master games played by the former world chess champion in Moscow. If you have been trying to figure out how to handle King’s Indian, this is a must-study game. You can look up the GigaKing with Chess King to find all the King’s Indian chess games ever played! Train with Chess King and you’re sure to see your rating points go up and up!

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Chess is a great leveler! Just when defending champion Russia’s Vladimir Kramnik was cruising along to another title win at the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meet, Italy’s Fabiano Caruana came along and spoiled the fun. Caruna, who had missed the Tal Memorial title earlier this year with some self-destructive play, managed to stay on course in Dortmund. He has just won the title for 2012 ahead of Russia’s Sergey Karjakin on tiebreak. Here is the nice Caruana-Kramnik game. The Dortmund Sparkassen 2012 report is now up at Chess Blog.

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The Sparkassen Chess Meet has begun in Dortmund. Four rounds have been played. Ruslan Ponomariov and Vladimir Kramnik are in joint lead. The tournament runs from July 13-22 and is the 41st edition annual Sparkassen Chess-Meeting. Here is a great game from Round 2 between Gustafsson and Kramnik. Must-watch!

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Looking through the World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen’s games we are particularly reminded of 2010 when he escaped with a draw against former World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik. The setting was the sixth round of the second edition of the London Chess Classic. Kramnik had outplayed Carlsen all the way and eventually liquidated into an endgame that would have “obviously been won”, but that’s why Goddess Caissa can be particularly cruel at times. Kramnik allowed the Black King to penetrate way too far and ended up in a draw. In fact, there is a deep mate available on the 69th move, but the question remains: Is it possible for a human to work it out? The game was a memorable one that reflected Carlsen’s intense desire to fight on the chessboard. Here is the game:
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The eighth round at the 7th Tal Chess Memorial was even more exciting than the seventh. One dubious distinction though – not only did the previous joint leaders, Alexander Morozevich and Vladimir Kramnik, lose in the seventh round, but they lost in the eighth round as well. A shock result that allowed Italian champion Fabiano Caruana to take a well-earned sole lead with just one round to go in Moscow at the Pashkov House. Here is the Italian Job – Fabiano Caruana versus Vladimir Kramnik 1-0.

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